Essay by Bill Horrigan. Foreword by Sherri Geldin.

Published by Verlag für moderne Kunst.Edited by Thomas Häusle. Text by Gerald Matt.

New York–based Iranian artist Shirin Neshat (born 1957) has continually addressed the social and political climate in her native country, particularly the status of women. Dreamers Trilogy documents three such video works from her current series: Illusions & Mirrors, 2013; Roja, 2016; and Sarah, 2016.

This publication surveys important works drawn from the entire career of the New York–based Iranian artist Shirin Neshat (born 1957), from the iconic inscribed photographs of the Women of Allah series (1993–97) to the artist’s most recent work, which looks at American culture and the ambivalent experience of being Iranian in the United States. Working nimbly in film, photography, video and multi-channel installation, Neshat’s work has always engaged questions of identity and belonging, investigating the relationships between the cultures of Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, poetry and polemics, public life and private life, modernity and antiquity. Women in Society offers a comprehensive survey of Neshat’s oeuvre, identifying two recurring themes in the artist’s large and diverse body of work: the role of women in Islamic societies and the repercussions of traumatic, diaspora-related experiences suffered by women.

In this book and the exhibition it accompanies, Shirin Neshat (born 1957) looks at the connections between ancient history and the politics of the present in works that employ photography, calligraphy, poetry and filmmaking to explore the primal concepts of violence, passion and love that drive human history. These include the various photographic series Neshat produced in the early 1990s and two video installations that address the historical, cultural and political realities on which the artist has focused for the past 30 years. In the photographic series Women of Allah (1993-97), the artist expresses her position on the situation in Iran following the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In her more recent series, The Book of Kings (2012) and Our House Is on Fire (2013), Neshat responds to political events throughout the Arab world, capturing the emotions of people she met after the Arab Spring.

Published by La Fábrica/Fundación Telefónica.Introduction by Octavio Zayas. Text by Shahram Karimi.

Since her 1994 series Women of Allah, Shirin Neshat (born 1957) has been exploring the status of Muslim women, dealing with both their search for cultural identity and the prejudices they must confront in the West. In this book, through a selection of her photographs, short films and video projections, the artist explores the differences between male and female spaces in Islamic societies, and how men and women are segregated physically, psychologically and professionally, confining inter-gender relationships exclusively to the private sphere. The veil and calligraphy are recurring motifs in this volume. The calligraphic prints Shirin Neshat uses on her subject’s faces, hands and feet are a means to communicate the many interpretations of the situation of Muslim women generally, and particularly in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Women Without Men is renowned visual artist Shirin Neshat's feature-film debut. Its exquisitely crafted view of the artist's native Iran during its tumultuous British and American-backed coup d'état in 1953 won Neshat the Silver Lion at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival. Adapted from the novel by Iranian author Shahrnush Parsipur, the film draws together the initially separate stories of five female characters during those traumatic days. With a camera that floats sedately through the lives of the women and the countryside of Iran, Neshat explores the political and psychological dimensions of her characters as they converge in a metaphorical orchard. This volume unites stills from the series of five video installations that originated the film with photographs and texts by critic Eleanor Heartney, Parsipur and the artist.

Published by Charta.Text by France Morin, Catherine Choron-Baix, Shirin Neshat.

In November 2005, Shirin Neshat, recent winner of the Silver Lion award at the 2009 Venice Biennale, was invited to participate in an art project in Luang Prabang, Laos. While there, she attended a Buddhist ceremony at the Vat That Luang monastery, in which the life of Pha Vet, Buddha's penultimate reincarnation before enlightenment, is recited by the monks. One evening, on the monastery grounds, Neshat encountered a group of elderly laypeople, socializing and singing with passionate glee. Neshat learned that, during this recital, these men and women camped outside the sanctuary, listening to the reading and singing duets of the courting songs of their youth. Neshat, who has built much of her oeuvre on themes of ritual seduction through song and gesture, decided to make these Laotians the subject of her project, and returned in October 2008 to film the singers, costuming them in neutral colors to focus intensely on the singers themselves, and creating a projection in which male and female singers face each other in erotic tension.

Published by Charta/MUSAC.Edited by Octavio Zaya. Essays by Hamid Dabashi and Octavio Zaya.

The first monograph to thoroughly document Shirin Neshat's video production, The Last Word provides both a beautiful reminder of her work's color and intensity and a crucial tool for her increasing number of fans and scholars. Neshat, who studied in the United States and has lived in New York for many years, found international success following the explosive release of her images of Muslim women wrapped in chadors with verses by rebel Persian poetesses traced on their faces, hands and feet. She became renowned when her short film Turbulent was awarded the Leone d'Oro at the 1999 Venice Biennale. With her camera persistently focused on the veiled women of the Muslim world, Neshat has continued to make striking and courageous work of rare beauty and intensity, and has presented it to continuing acclaim. She goes fearlessly into the widening gulf between conformism and revolt, submission and compliance, that characterizes the women of the Muslim world, seeking out images from the far sides of the divide that will both narrow the distance and help viewers sound its depths. The Last Word is a necessity for those who would approach, informed, the poetic works and the fierce commitment of an extraordinary artist.

2002-2005

Published by Charta.Texts by Shoja Youssefi Azari and Shirin Neshat.

In Shirin Neshat's photographs, Arabic calligraphic script is transcribed over black-and-white depictions of the exposed faces, hands, and feet of Iranian women. In her video works, swarms of women in black hijabs ululate; a man in a white dress shirt and black pants sings to an all-male audience; and a lone, nearly invisible woman chants to herself in a darkened house. Though focused on the particulars of the oppression of women in contemporary Iran, Neshat underscores the relevance of her poetic, disturbing, moving ensembles to a broader culture. Presented here are stills from five of Neshat's recent films: Tooba (2002), in which a female protagonist wanders through the artist's interpretation of the Garden of Eden; The Last Word (2003), a surreal and disturbing look into the mind of an Iranian woman writer; Mahdokht (2004), Neshat's first feature-length film, set in a magical garden and based on Shahrnoush Parsipour's novella, Women without Men and Zarin (2005).

Published by Charta.Essays by Roselee Goldberg, Giorgio Verzotti.

In Shirin Neshat's photographs, Persian calligraphic script is transcribed over black and white depictions of the exposed faces, hands and feet of Iranian women. In her video works, swarms of women in black hijabs ululate, or a man in a white dress shirt and black pants sings to an all-male audience, while a lone woman sings to herself in a darkened theater. Always aesthetically compelling, Neshat's work is equally thematically ambiguous, never settling on a simple or singular meaning, never offering social commentary within prescribed limits. Though focused on the particulars of sex segregation and the suppression of women in contemporary Iran, Neshat underscores the relevance of her poetic, disturbing, moving ensembles to a broader culture. This monograph documents and provides critical insight into the evolution of her work.

Published by Charta.Artwork by Shirin Neshat.

Shirin Neshat's determination to undermine Western assumptions about Middle Eastern women has resulted in an already substantial body of astounding and profound work. These images wrest emotional, aesthetic and political freedom from the dominant patriarchal culture, whether it be the Colonialist West or fundamentalist Iran. This volume offers a look at Neshat's latest film installation, and includes critical commentary on the work. The book also offers a concise overview of Neshat's career with images from her most important works, plus a biography and bibliography.

Published by Wexner Center for the Arts.Essay by Bill Horrigan. Foreword by Sherri Geldin.

One of the most exciting and important young artists of the past decade, Iranian-born Shirin Neshat has addressed issues of nation, colonialism, and gender in a variety of media, always challenging our preconceptions about art and society. She is particularly renowned for her film installations, which have been featured at several Whitney Biennials--and this new catalogue accompanies Raptureand Fervor, the second and third films in a trilogy exploring the social, political and psychological dimensions of women's experience in contemporary Islamic societies. The emphasis here is on the interplay between the explicit text and the implicit subtext in Islamic ritual, and how the emotions stirred up by these rituals can take on mercurial and contradictory forms.